Friday Movie Roundup: Blue Valentine's Dedicated Duo

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The
recent double-barreled Robert
De Niro developments of his Cecil B. DeMille lifetime
achievement award at the Golden Globes and the release of a 30-year
anniversary Blu-ray edition of Raging
Bull remind us how far the actor once went to portray his
characters as authentically as humanly possible.

Few
actors today go as deep as old-school De Niro in embodying their
characters as Ryan Gosling (who just happens to be CityBeat's cover boy this week!).
The Canadian-born actor's latest method-informed performance, as Dean
in Derek Cianfrance's
Blue Valentine,
employs both an impressive physical transformation (check his
hairline as he ages in the film) and a total emotional immersion to
the point where we, as viewers, are concerned not only for his
character's well being but also for the actor's. His Dean is a
soulful, untamed romantic who aches for the love of Cindy (Michelle
Williams), a young woman equally smitten with a certain kind
of love, and that ache is palpable throughout Blue
Valentine's heart-wrenching narrative. (Read tt stern-enzi's
review of the film here.)

Williams
matches Gosling's intensity without ever letting us see the choices
she's making as an actress. In contrast to Gosling's more overt,
workmanlike approach (at least in this film), she seems effortlessly
natural, an actress who does more with less. (Another example of her
gift is on display in Kelly Reichart's Wendy
and Lucy and the same director's upcoming Meek's
Cutoff.) Much of the credit for the duo's affecting,
go-for-broke performances rests with Cianfrance, a director who
clearly created a safe and nurturing working environment for his
actors. (Word is Gosling and Williams were apparently involved off
camera, too — a dynamic Cianfrance probably didn't mind mining.)
Williams was rewarded for her efforts with an Oscar nomination.
Surprisingly, Gosling was not.

If
only contemporary actors had more American artists like Reichart and
Cianfrance in their corner — personal filmmakers keenly interested
in exploring real human emotions.

In
addition to Blue Valentine, we have a interesting batch of new
releases this week, including a trio of films that opened in larger
markets several weeks ago in order to qualify for Oscar
consideration: Mike Leigh's Another Year (Leigh grabbed a nod
for Best Original Screenplay), George Hickenlooper's Casino Jack
and Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, which unfortunately arrives
here without an advanced screening. Then there are a pair of genre
films, one (The Mechanic) of which Cole Smithey is pimping as
“one badass movie.”

Opening
films:

ANOTHER
YEAR — Another
Yearis often as depressing as its title. Of
course, this being a Mike Leigh production, that's the point. The
veteran British filmmaker behind such fare as Naked,
Secrets & Lies and Happy-Go-Lucky
again immerses his working-class characters in the messiness of
everyday life, this time focusing his neorealist gaze on Gerri (Ruth
Sheen) and Tom (Jim Broadbent), happily married sixtysomethings who
revel in their long, still-evolving relationship and in simple
pleasures like tending their garden. (Read full review here.) (Opens
today at Mariemont Theatre.) — Jason
Gargano (Rated PG-13.) Grade:
B-

BLUE
VALENTINE — Writer/director Derek Cianfrance's Blue
Valentine alerts us early on that this is not a love
story. The intoxication of young love quickly shifts into an obvious
addictive downward spiral. Rather than tease us with the possibility
of a happily ever after, Blue
Valentine cuts
back and forth from those initial highs to the couple (Ryan Gosling
and Michelle Williams) and their young child as the bottom nears.
(Read full review here.) (Opens
today at AMC, Esquire Theatre and multiple Showcase Cinemas.)
— tt stern-enzi(Rated R.) Grade: B

CASINO
JACK — Released just a few months after Alex Gibney's
Jack Abramoff documentary, director George Hickenlooper's feature
version of the same tale of corruption shellacs rather than shackles
its GOP super-lobbyist anti-hero. Kevin Spacey's portrayal of
Abramoff fails not due to any lack of solid choices on the actor's
part; he is the victim of improper casting. Like its subject,Casino Jackis too slick for its own good. (Read full review here.) (Opens
today at Kenwood Theatre.) — Cole
Smithey (Rated R.) Grade:
C

THE
MECHANIC — Simon West, director of Con
Air and The
General's Daughter, has been off the big-screen radar long
enough to properly contemplate the slick little cinematic take-over
that is The Mechanic.
The film's generic poster of a handgun made up of roughly sketched
weapons cleverly conceals an ingenious update on the time honored
assassin-with-a-heart genre. (Read full review here.) (Opens
wide Friday.) — CS
(Rated R.) Grade: B